Early Human Decapitation, 11,700–10,700 cal bp,within the Pre‐Pottery Neolithic Village of Tell Qaramel,North Syria

The process and timing of skull removal remains poorly understood by researchers. New archaeological and skeletal analysis from two skeletons from the early Pre‐Pottery Neolithic site of Tell Qaramel, northern Syria, highlights that Neolithic villagers used stone tools to physically decapitate the dead. Drawing upon cutmarks on the axis and the mandible from primary and secondary burials, we employed a scanning electron microscope to document how Neolithic people cut the ligament and its surrounding connecting tissues that bind the cranium with the bones of the axis and the mandible. The position of the cutmarks, especially at the top of the odontoid process of the axis, illustrates the complexities of intentional skull removal. From these and associated burial data, we illustrate that Levantine Neolithic people had specific practical codes for the sequence of skull removal, but given variation in the decomposition of the human body, at times, villagers had to use flint tools for skull removal. This study provides evidence of some of the world's earliest examples of intentional decapitation within human communities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identifying foreigners versus locals in a burial population from Nasca, Peru: an investigation using strontium isotope analysis

During the several thousand years of human occupation in the Nasca drainage on the south coast of Peru, population movement into and out of the region impacted the formation and organization of society, as well as contributed to major cultural transformations. This study identifies foreign versus local individuals through the investigation of burial practices and strontium isotope analysis of human remains from the sites of La Tiza and Pajonal Alto dating from the Early Intermediate Period through the Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1–1476). Of the ten samples analyzed, two individuals dating to the Middle Horizon were identified as foreigners. One of these individuals was buried in a new elite tomb type providing additional evidence that the Wari state incorporated Nasca into its realm. Two headless individuals, one dating to Middle Nasca with clear evidence of decapitation, and another dating to the Late Intermediate Period who was likely decapitated, were both locals. This suggests the practice of decapitation took place among local groups, and that the practice of decapitation and the use of heads as ritual items or trophies may have continued later in time than previously thought.     

Multidisciplinary analysis of a mummified cranium claimed to be that of a medieval execution victim

This article presents a multidisciplinary analysis of a human skull with preserved soft tissue curated by a small museum in Boscastle, Cornwall, UK. The skull lacks a mandible and is coated in a black tar-like substance. Records left by a previous museum curator (now deceased) claimed the skull to be the head of a medieval execution victim. The skull was purportedly recovered from a London church that was destroyed during the Second World War where it had been kept in a carved oak box. If these details are correct, the skull would appear to have been venerated as a relic. The skull and box have been analysed using a range of techniques including computerised tomography, laser scanning, microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and radiocarbon dating. These analyses demonstrated the skull in fact to be that of an Egyptian mummy dating from the Ptolemaic period. Other instances have been noted of parts of Egyptian mummies being presented as European saintly relics, and the ‘Boscastle skull’ would appear to be an example of such. A wider point illustrated by the work presented here is that sufficient application of modern analytical techniques may reveal considerable information regarding human remains which otherwise have little or no provenance. This point strengthens arguments for the retention of such remains by curating institutions.     

The origins of two purportedly pre-Columbian Mexican crystal skulls

The well-known life-size rock crystal skull in the British Museum was purchased in 1897 as an example of genuine pre-Columbian workmanship, but its authenticity has been the subject of increasing speculation since the 1930s. This paper is concerned with the history, technology and material of the skull and another larger white quartz skull, donated recently to the Smithsonian Institution. Manufacturing techniques were investigated, using scanning electron microscopy to examine tool marks on the artefacts, and compared with Mesoamerican material from secure contexts. A Mixtec rock crystal goblet and a group of Aztec/Mixtec rock crystal beads show no evidence of lapidary wheels. They were probably worked with stone and wood tools charged with abrasives, some of which may have been as hard as corundum. Textual evidence for Mexican lapidary techniques during the early colonial period, supported by limited archaeological evidence, also indicates a technology without the wheel, probably based on natural tool materials. In contrast, the two skulls under consideration were carved with rotary wheels. The British Museum skull was worked with hard abrasives such as corundum or diamond, whereas X-ray diffraction revealed traces of carborundum (SiC), a hard modern synthetic abrasive, on the Smithsonian skull. Investigation of fluid and solid inclusions in the quartz of the British Museum skull, using microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, shows that the material formed in a mesothermal metamorphic environment equivalent to greenschist facies. This suggests that the quartz was obtained from Brazil or Madagascar, areas far outside pre-Columbian trade networks. Recent archival research revealed that the British Museum skull was rejected as a modern artefact by the Museo Nacional de Mexico in 1885, when offered for sale by the collector and dealer, Eugène Boban. These findings led to the conclusion that the British Museum skull was worked in Europe during the nineteenth century. The Smithsonian Institution skull was probably manufactured shortly before it was bought in Mexico City in 1960; large blocks of white quartz would have been available from deposits in Mexico and the USA.     

Non-Local Enemies or Local Subjects of Violence?: Using Strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and Lead (206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, 208Pb/204Pb) Isobiographies to Reconstruct Geographic Origins and Early Childhood Mobility of Decapitated Male Heads from the Majes Valley,Peru

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - Throughout much of the pre-Hispanic Andes, bioarchaeological and iconographic evidence shows that the decapitation, dismemberment, and display of human...     

Palaeolithic dog skulls at the Gravettian P?edmostí site, the Czech Republic

Whether or not the wolf was domesticated during the early Upper Palaeolithic remains a controversial issue. We carried out detailed analyses of the skull material from the Gravettian P?edmostí site, Czech Republic, to investigate the issue. Three complete skulls from P?edmostí were identified as Palaeolithic dogs, characterized by short skull lengths, short snouts, and wide palates and braincases relative to wolves. One complete skull could be assigned to the group of Pleistocene wolves. Three other skulls could not be assigned to a reference group; these might be remains from hybrids or captive wolves. Modifications by humans of the skull and canine remains from the large canids of P?edmostí indicate a specific relationship between humans and large canids.     

Sepulchral Brasses,and Incised Slabs

A Middle Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Chesterton Lane Corner, Cambridge, has been radiocarbon dated to the seventh to ninth centuries with its floruit in the eighth century and evidence that many of the individuals buried there were executed. Intriguingly, there is also a Late Roman decapitation burial at the site. The evidence for Middle Anglo-Saxon Cambridge is reviewed and the relationship between justice and central places is considered.     

Two medieval ‘trepanations’ – therapy or swindle?

During the 1991–1992 excavation of the ruins of the medieval cathedral in Hamar, Norway, the broken skull of an elderly man was found, showing evidence of an incomplete trepanation. The ‘surgeon’ had obviously tried to penetrate the skull surface around bregma in an irregular circle of 23 × 21 mm. Upon investigation, the skull revealed a reactive‐pathological area of the internal surface of the occipital bone, which probably represents a respite after a meningeal disorder (a tumour or an infectious process), causing us to suggest that the trepanation was meant to cure the patient's increasing headache. However, as a second skull with similar marks was found in the same churchyard, another explanation seems possible. Because the brain tumour in the first case may have altered the patient's mental state, we may surmise that these incomplete operations were an attempt to remove from these patients' heads the ‘Stone of Madness’, which was then commonly considered to be the reason for psychiatric diagnoses as well as persistent headache, and often depicted in European art, most notably in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. The second skull, revealing an even more incomplete attempt, did not show any skeletal pathology at all. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Injuries on a skull from the Ancient Bronze Age (Ballabio,Lecco, Italy): a natural or an anthropic origin?

This paper discusses the results of the analysis of a female skull from a collective burial dated to the Ancient Bronze Age in Italy (Ballabio, LC). A virtual restoration and 3D reconstruction was also produced from the digitalized skull to complete the damaged parts and to recreate the facial appearance of this young adult female from the Bronze Age. The skull shows clear evidence of post-mortem modifications, as some series of scraping marks on the external cranial vault cross the parietal bones longitudinally. The contemporaneous presence of taphonomic linear marks on the skull and periostitis on the frontal bone, as well as the provenance of the specimen from a secondary burial (a typical funerary habit documented in Italy during the Copper Age and Ancient Bronze Age), makes it difficult to interpret the case (scalping, surgery, or ritual practice linked to secondary burial). The advanced methods used to analyse the skull surface allowed us to discriminate intentional marks from modifications due to other taphonomic processes and to determine the timing of their formation (peri- or post-mortem). The possibility that the scraping marks are related to a ritual practice, conducted during the individual's life (with specific symbolic or social value) or after death or at the moment of secondary burial, is discussed.     

An interesting case of prehistoric trepanation from Poland: re‐evaluation of the skull from the Franki Suchodolskie site

The skull described here was excavated in Central Poland (archaeological site Franki Suchodolskie) in 1951, and was known as one of the oldest cases of healed trepanation. This skull, with later excavations from the Ukraine (cemeteries of Vasilyevka II and Vasilyevka III), was the basis for dating the beginning of the practice of trepanation in the Mesolithic period. The skull was never comprehensively described and dated, although it was scientifically extremely important. The skull has been reassessed by the authors of this paper has brought thorough verification of the knowledge concerning this excavation. According to radiocarbon analysis it is much younger than previously thought and has now been dated to the Late Neolithic or the Bronze Age. Earlier opinions about the healing and survival after the operation have not been confirmed: the hole in the squama of the frontal bone made by scraping and then by grooving has no evidence of healing. Radiological studies as well as computer tomography indicate lack of any healing processes in the bone tissue around the trepanation opening. The results of the analysis significantly modify ideas regarding the earliest skull operations in Central Europe, and change the time of the first trepanation to the Late Neolithic, as for most of the continent. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decolonising the Broken Hill Skull: Cultural Loss and a Pathway to Zambian Archaeological Sovereignty

For more than ninety years, between 1921 and 2012, our knowledge of the Broken Hill Man phase of human evolution has been provided by scholars who have been able to access the skull in England, where it was taken in 1921. This paper presents findings of the circumstances under which the skull was discovered in Northern Rhodesia and taken to England, its significance to science, and issues relating to its return to Zambia. The study grew out of the disillusionment of Zambians due to the reluctance of the Natural History Museum in London to repatriate the skull to its country of origin. The study has established that despite the existence of a legal framework in Northern Rhodesia to regulate the removal of relics from the territory, which was then under the administration of the British South Africa Company, the Rhodesia Broken Hill Mine Company donated the skull to the British Museum (Natural History) without obtaining an export permit. It is within the context of the findings and arguments advanced by the parties involved in the claim of ownership that this paper advocates for the return of the skull to Zambia.     

A temporal bone lesion in a modern subject to explain a defect in the Kabwe skull

The skull of a dissection room subject was noted to have a hole in the left squamous temporal bone similar to a lesion in the Kabwe (Broken Hill) skull. Kabwe man has an 8 × 8 mm hole situated 2 cm above and slightly anterior to the left external auditory meatus (EAM). This report describes a possible mechanism for the causation of that lesion, which is illustrated by features on a modern skull. The subject is a 55-year-old man who died from carcinoma of the stomach in 1942. The skull was macerated, defatted and stored after the cadaver had been dissected by medical students. In the squamous temporal bone there was an oval shaped 9 × 8 mm hole. The base of the oval was situated 11 mm above the superior margin of the EAM with the central axis of the hole being in line with the anterior margin of the EAM. This hole forms the base of a larger intracranial pit measuring 21 mm in diameter. The hole has an irregular margin except superiorly where it is smooth and rounded, indicative of healing. Intracranially, the petrous temporal bone displayed a marked exophytic, bony outgrowth suggestive of a chronic infective condition. The tegmen tympani contained a hole 3 mm in diameter in the middle of the exophytic area. No sign of disease in the mastoid process was noted. These findings are compatible with advanced chronic ear disease which has tracked into the extradural space through the tegmen tympani, become loculated, and then eroded the squamous temporal bone. The Kabwe skull shows signs compatible with chronic ear disease. It is suggested that a mechanism similar to the one described in the modern skull could explain the lesion in the left squamous temporal bone of Kabwe man.     

An unusual cluster of meningiomas?

Three cases of meningioma are described from a single site in Hertfordshire yielding a total of 83 male and 84 female burials. The lesions were present in the parietal and frontal bones, and were bilateral in one case. All presented as a defect in the inner table of the skull and were supplied by a large aberrant artery; in two instances the lesion had eroded completely through the skull but no hyperostosis was present. The unusually high prevalence of this tumour is discussed in the light of other palaeopathological findings. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A case of concha bullosa mucopyocele in a medieval human skull

The term ‘concha bullosa’ refers to the pneumatisation of the intranasal turbinates. The pneumatisation can occur at any level (superior, middle, inferior), but the term is typically used to describe the aeration of the middle turbinate. This case report concerns a medieval skull from Tomb Chamber Number One in St. Nicholas's Church in Głogów, Poland. The burial dates from the 13th or 14th century. Direct measurements of the skull according to Martin's technique and computed tomography (CT) were made. The skull is from a male whose age was estimated as 40–55 years. In the nasal cavity, a large bony formation with the appearances of a tumor, a lesion of the maxillary sinus wall, and a significant curvature of the nasal septum were found. The CT scan demonstrated changes that could be described as a type IV concha bullosa, according to Krzeski's classification. This anatomical variation was first described by Zuckerkandl in 1893. The symptoms that were often associated with concha bullosa include nasal obstruction or congestion, facial pain, and headache. Concha bullosa can result in recurrent sinusitis, mucocele, or mucopyocele. In the case of the Głogów skull, an extensive lesion and inflammatory changes in the maxillary sinus and destruction of the orbital floor suggests the presence of a mucopyocele that arose from a concha bullosa. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The First Evidence for Leprosy in Early Mediaeval Scotland: Two Individuals from Cemeteries in St. Andrews,Fife, Scotland,with Evidence for Normal Burial Treatment

The study of skeletal material recovered from excavations at two distinct early mediaeval cemeteries in St. Andrews, Scotland, resulted in the diagnosis of one individual from each cemetery as having had facies leprosa (leprosy). Radiocarbon dating gave a likely date in the 8th century ad for the Hallow Hill skeleton, and the Kirkhill skull was probably from the same period. Both skulls displayed the full range of classic signs of facies leprosa. The bone changes were slightly different in the two, the maxillary alveolus having been more severely affected in the Hallow Hill skull, whereas the posterior palatal area showed greater damage in the skull from Kirkhill. The skeletons were not segregated but buried in the middle of cemeteries used for the general population, thus supporting previous research in both the history of medicine and human bioarchaeology that suggests that people with leprosy were not necessarily stigmatised in the past. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparative Craniometry of a Young Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber L.) from the Medieval Novgorod the Great (Russia): A Case Study

The aim of this study was to investigate the unique find from medieval Novgorod the Great—an almost complete skull of a young Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber L.). Comparisons of the craniometry of this skull with the skulls of the autochthonous and reintroduced populations of beavers from the same and adjacent regions suggest that a type of large beaver once inhabited the Volkhov basin. Further studies are necessary to accept or reject this hypothesis. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The holotype individual of the ornithopod dinosaur Leaellynasaura amicagraphica Rich & Rich, 1989 (late Early Cretaceous,Victoria, Australia)

Doubt has been cast upon the association of the skull roof and postcranial bones, originally regarded as part of the same individual as the holotype, the left side of the skull, of Leaellynasaura amicagraphica Rich & Rich 1989. The reasons given for these doubts, the form of the prefrontal and the proportions of the supratemporal region being inconsistent with the holotype, are imprecise. The association is supported both by the morphology of the parietal and jugal, which are similar to those of Dryosaurus, and the unique sedimentological setting.     

THE PETRALONA HOMINID SITE: URANIUM-SERIES RE-ANALYSIS OF ‘LAYER 10’CALCITE AND ASSSOCIATED PALAEOMAGNETIC ANALYSES

Separate sublayers of the ‘layer 10’calcite from the Mausoleum of Petralona Cave, Greece, have been re-analysed by Uranium-series and palaeomagnetic methods. The results confirm earlier findings that the whole of layer 10 represents a long time span, from about 160 ka to more than 350 ka, the latter being the dating limit of the U-series method using alpha-spectrometry. The minimum age refers to the upper brown sublayer that is now believed to correspond directly to the brown calcite that cemented the hominid skull to the adjacent cave wall; there was too little of the skull calcite to date directly by alpha-spectrometry. The age shifts caused by making corrections for the amount of detritus in the sublayer are effectively insensitive to assumed initial values of the amount of common ²³⁰Th present. Consequently, the minimum age estimate for the skull is about 160 ka, in approximate agreement with several earlier estimates. Palaeomagnetic analyses of ‘layer 10’and underlying sedimentary layers showed that the magnetization is unstable and cannot be used as a basis for age control in the Mausoleum.     

Evidence of interpersonal violence at the Chalcolithic village of Shiqmim (Israel)

Three circumscribed depressed fractures were found on the skull of an adolescent boy recovered from a primary intramural burial at the Chalcolithic site of Shiqmim, northern Negev, Israel dated to (∼4500–3200 BCE). The fractures were located on the left side and back of the skull. They are circular in outline and have sharp margins containing numerous small bone fragments. These indicate that the skull was fractured when the bone was still fresh and were the probable cause of death. The location of the fractured areas is typical of blows inflicted by a right‐handed individual in face‐to‐face conflict. The size and shape of the fractures, suggests that they were inflicted by a blunt instrument, possibly a mace head. The absence of any signs of healing or infection indicates that all fractures occurred within a short space of time and resulted in death. Neither biological characteristics nor burial pattern show any unique features that distinguish this individual from others recovered at this site. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.